Medical seat racket: Another case against Asst Dean of Sion Hospital

Yet another case has been registered against the assistant dean of Lokmanya Tilak general hospital in Sion for running a medical seat racket. This is the third FIR registered against the accused, Rakesh Verma, and his associates. According to the Sion police, the accused used to dupe medical graduates by promising them admission to their post-graduation courses at the college.

According to the police, a middleman used to approach the students who are trying to seek admission for the PG course. These students have either failed to crack the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) or were seeking other ways to secure admission. The students would then pay hefty amounts to secure a government seat. The racket came to the fore after a complaint was filed by the mother of a medical graduate from Latur. Her daughter had failed NEET and wanted to pursue a masters in surgery.

According to her complaint, on July 28, last year, a man who identified himself as Akhilesh Pal contacted her and told her that he could get her a seat in the college if they were ready to shell out Rs 1.10 crore. The accused held a meeting with the girl’s parents and Verma at Sion hospital. In order to gain their trust, Verma showed them relevant admission documents.

Later, Pal and his accomplice Luv Gupta demanded Rs 1.10 crore for the admission. After much bargaining, they finally settled for Rs 75 lakh. In the next couple of months, the family paid Rs 45 lakh to Gupta and Pal. However, till March, they failed to secure an admission in the college. When asked, the accused used to give them some excuse. But they continued to demand money.

The girl’s family then smelt a rat and approached the hospital where they learnt that they were duped. The family then approached the Sion police. On Saturday, a case of criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery was registered against Verma and his two associates. Verma was arrested last December for a similar offence and is currently behind bars. The cops have written to the magistrates’ court seeking his custody to carry out further investigations. The senior inspector of Sion police station Manoj Hirlekar confirmed than an offence has been registered and said that the case was being investigated.